Trustee from the Toolroom

By: Nevil Shute

Narrated by: Frank Muller

Length: 8 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's summary

Keith Stewart, a retiring and ingenious engineer, could not have been happier in his little house in the shabby London suburb of Ealing. There he invented the mini-motor, the six-volt generator, and the tiny Congreve clock. Then a chain of events sweeps him into deep waters and leads him to his happiest discovery yet.

©1960 Heather Felicity Norway and Union Trustee Company of Australia, Ltd. (P)1988 Recorded Books, LLC

A fun listen

Great story with interesting characters in "merry old England" post WW2. What made it more fun was the writing of it was in the same time period so you stepped back in time twice.

An Uplifting Story

A truly delightful story without a single villain, and featuring a humble tinkerer whose talents and whose simple, thoroughgoing decency only become apparent to him through his encounters with those he has unknowingly influenced.

This is a happy book

This is a happy book. It has no political overtones or didacticisms. It is the best book I’ve read in years!!I’m just sad it’s over.

One fantastic listen!!

Frank Mueller sets us in the story and you feel as if you've been transported back to a simpler time with simpler heroes.

a very easy read I wish it was four times longer.

this is the first time I've ever left comments on my ratings in two years of being an audible member.
I highly recommend this book

Just what I needed!!!

So sick of horrible crime and evil. In this story, the crimes are the kind committed by well meaning people who lack judgment. And who serve as the victims as well. Engineering, sailing, and forests are the correlated themes, along with an unlikely hero, or two.

Wonderful read!

Neville Shute writes with warmth and precision. Such an enjoyable book. Touching and funny. One of his best reads.

Amazing Story

I was surprised how much I loved this book. Couldn’t stop listening to it. I would recommend that if you want a deep story to give this a try.

Trustee from the tool room

Best story ever! This guy could sure spin a tale. Will be reading more of his books.

A gem of a story!

Written over a generation ago this quaint story about a modest author\machinist takes you along for his adventure of a lifetime. I enjoyed how oblivious our hero was to his fame and notoriety. He was a simple, creative man that so enjoyed his work that he underestimated the impact his work had on others.

The story also speaks of a time when communication was not so instantaneous, describing how information was sought and obtained by threads of connections. Also, an element of the story I enjoyed was how the simple courtesy of answering someone's letter seeking extra advice was repaid ten thousand times over. I'll recommend you listen to this story and savor the long gone days when long distance person-to-person telephone calls and telegrams were extraordinary events and how a humble man accepts the assistance of his fans, but doesn't let it change him. I truly enjoyed my time listening to Trustee from the Toolroom and expect to visit with him again and again.

An old friend revisited

I read Nevil Shute when I was in high school--On the Beach, A Town Like Alice and a couple others I can't even remember. I am so sick of today's fiction that I've hopped on the way-back machine to try to find something that isn't full of graphic violence or someone else's angst or dysfunctional families or other utterly depressing subject matter. I found Shute in the $4.95 sale pile and scarfed him up. Before I was finished the book, I added everything else I could find by him to my Audible wish list. It is hard finding the older authors, other than classics, in audio format--and just as hard to remember their names (so thank you to the regular sales that Audible has that highlight some of these less popular titles). This was Shute's last book; it was published posthumously.

Trustee from the Toolroom is a heart-warming adventure story. I can't really think of a better way to describe it. At first, you wonder where this story is going to go, especially as you meet the protagonist, a married but childless, self-employed toolmaker/engineer who works out of the basement of his two-family house in a blue color, post-war suburb of London. Then, the story takes off and I'm just not going to say any more about it, because why spoil it.